Police: Man Upset With Loud Party Fires Gunshot

A man who was “irritated with loud noise from a party” fired a gunshot into the air when some party-goers approached him, according to an Arlington County Police crime report.

The incident happened around 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 21, on the 3000 block of S. Randolph Street in Shirlington.

The man, who was intoxicated, was upset that a “drinking party” in his apartment building was making a ruckus, even after he asked the party-goers to quiet down, according to ACPD spokesman Dustin Sternbeck. Frustrated, the man began filming the party with his cell phone from the building’s courtyard.

Four people from the party then approached the man, according to Sternbeck. Feeling “threatened,” the man took out a pistol from his waistband and fired a single gunshot into the air, Sternbeck said; the party-goers scattered, and the man placed the gun on the ground waited for police to arrive. Nobody was injured.

Patrick John Kelley, 32, was arrested and charged with brandishing a firearm and reckless handling of a firearm. He was held on a secured bond.

The shell casing from the shot was found, but the bullet was not recovered, Sternbeck said.

Why wasn’t the irritated man also charged with a noise violation,? Surely a gunshot violates the County’s revamped noise ordinance.

DeportEmAll

Welcome to South Arlington!

Louise

You did see that his name was Patrick John Kelley?

Mary-Austin

Never thought I would see the day but it appears the brahs are now moving into the Valley

arlcyclist

Haha yea I’d hardly refer to the “Windsor at Shirlington” as the Valley. Vally adjacent maybe but these condos have been brah central since they opened. The pool there during the summer is like a new millennium version of the pool scene at Melrose Place.

Mary-Austin

Oops you’re right. Different part of Randolph. Yea those places have always been frattastic.

Gladys

This is a stick frame building with walls as thin as cardboard. I used to hear my neighbors “getting it on” all the time. The toliet flushes sent me packing.

Trev

Hey brah. Sorry about the noise last Wed

Douglas Parker

Yes, but did the party quiet down?

Louise

IKR?

SouthArlJD

I guess it never occurred to Mr. Cellphone to use the thing to call the cops. They’re actually pretty good about responding.

JimPB

SouthArlJD — Mr. Cellphone was self-reliant. His gun shot into the air did work.

yyy

Steve??!

1RLI

Classic brandishing. With a twist.

JimPB

I sympathize with Mr. Cellphone. There’s far too much human generated unnecessarily loud noise. We got by for tens of thousands of years without speakers and amplifiers. Back to the future for what long worked. I long for a rampage of cutting the wires to amplifiers and speakers.

Unbelievably the worse: Stopped at a red light in winter with all car windows up, and from a lane or two over and several vehicles back comes music so loud that my car windows vibrate and conversation within my car is made difficult at best. The only reasons for generating such noise: A large void within the skull and hearing aid companies paying the noise producers to generate more business.

Then there’s defeating worship. A religious group with music so loud (thanks to the devil’s amplifiers) at a worship service that meditative prayer ISO of the voice of God within (presumably the ultimate goal) is pointless.

Skeptical

Someone gets it. Thanks.

drax

Amen.

And don’t forget the damn leaf blowers.

Swag

wtf did I just read?

Josh S

Posted at 5:12 – that’s plenty of time to polish off a couple of G & Ts……

(kidding, I’m kidding…..)

Captain_Obvious

let me get this straight: DRUNK guy is upset about a loud drinking party being too loud, so his solution is to fire a gun in the air ? I think he was really upset cause he wasn’t invited and decided to drink by himself.

craig

this idiot gives all gun owners a bad name.

charles

not that that’s hard to do

Libby

Sort of like how NovaSteve gives all ArlNow posters a bad name.

Sam the Cat

I wonder if they are sorry for party rock’n?

Charles

I’m impressed the police responded at all. If only they’d help with neighbor barking dog noise, instead of sitting out there ignoring red-light runners

CW

Is it possible to fire a gunshot? My understanding was that you could only fire a gun, which resulted in a gunshot.

WeiQiang

Fired his gun at 10:30pm? Nocturnal discharge.

nom de guerre

My sources tell me he was only shooting blanks. Not that this is impotent.

MC 703

Ding ding ding

Hmmmmm

“The shell casing from the shot was found, but the bullet was not recovered, Sternbeck said.”

I find it bizarre they did not find the bullet. Sir, are you sure you fired it straight up?

Sebastian Melmoth

i have no problem with the dude firing off a shot. when i lived in clarendon there were quite a few times i couldn’t sleep due to loud frat/jock parties. and you know how dumb and neanderthal they are after they’ve been drinking. if any of them approached me after i asked them to quiet down i’d shoot a gun in the air as well.

not novasteve steve

Just curious, and this is hypothetical and forgetting that the moron FIRED his gun into the air recklessly, if I were to have a gun and was legally allowed to carry the gun via a concealed weapons permit and I was in this guy’s situation and was approached in a threatening manner by this group of four partygoers, if I were to pull my gun in what I perceived to be self-defense to ward them off (again didn’t fire a shot), would I still be charged with brandishing??

johnny b

Yes. Va does not have a ‘stand your ground’ law.
If the threatening crowd is not showing any deadly weapons, your first response should be to run away. You may only defend yourself with deadly force when threatened by deadly force. It’s a grey area that would have to be worked out in court…..hence the reason more states are considering ‘stand your ground’ laws to simplify the process.

Tim

A lovely picture of the gentleman. Pretty sure he graduated in the class of 98 from O’Connell.